Farewell Wyoming

This morning we left our Wyoming campground and backtracked 3 miles to check out an old Indian buffalo jump site on a back road. Between 1500 - 1800 AD, Indians lured bison to a cliff or edge of a natural sinkhole and then herded them over the edge into the cavity below. Then the Indians would kill enough bison to provide them with meat for the coming winter months. The sinkhole pictured was 200' wide and 50' deep. The canvas you can see to the left of Murray is part of an archaelogical digging site where hundreds of bison bones are being recovered. Signs everywhere warn to be careful of rattlesnakes, so we made a lot of noise just in case any were around.

From the buffalo jump, we drove 10 minutes east and crossed the border into South Dakota, and traversed only about 100 (160 km) miles in that state, travelling north and parallel to the Montana border which was about 30 (50km) miles to our west. The late snow falls and subsequent rains have left the fields looking very healthy - fresh hay bales were dotting many acres, and green young corn crops were waving in the breeze. One property even had a pretty blue oil derrick pumping in a field amidst the hay bales! Very picturesque. Once over the border into North Dakota we pulled up to check out a cemetery out in the middle of nowhere. Murray noticed a farmer across the road, so he went over to chat with him. Turns out his family migrated from Holland to Minnesota and then to this area in North Dakota in 1909. He was 63 years of age and had lived on the same farm all of his life. His farm was 480 acres and he had alfalfa crops and ran 48 head of cattle. Angas cattle are everywhere in this area and look so sleek and healthy. Around 2.30pm we arrived at our campground in North Dakota (it was 100 F (38C)) , and within minutes, the first warning for a tornado watch came across our TV screen. It is now a few hours later, and we are waiting for it to get a bit cooler before pulling out the BBQ and cooking our steaks. The tornado watch has moved to the East of us at this stage. Tomorrow we will drive the 100 miles (160 km) to Bismarck, the capital of North Dakota where we plan to stay for 2 nights.